Today is August 20th. It was six months ago today that I started this film blog. The idea was, and still is, to highlight the films either no one is paying much attention to, or the films no one is seeing because no one is thinking to look.
The review that follows is the review I posted on another blog. It's also the moment where I seriously began thinking about starting a blog like this one.
The kind of sad thing is I don't think I have this film in my collection any more. I think I passed it on to someone - I think Eden - simply because someone had to know about the film besides me.
In honor of every orphaned and unwatched film I present what should have been the first review here at Unseen Films; instead consider it the half-year anniversary marker. Let's hope that someone somehere is watching the film and enjoying it.
Tree In The Desert
A man living on the edge of the desert takes a wife and begins to raise a family. He falls ill and she takes over his job of planting trees. Similar to several films produced nominally by the Chinese government (they talk about party conferences and the greater good), so much so that I wasn't sure if I hadn't seen it before. It's a soapy tale set in the village and in a hospital a good distance away. A good little film that has some of the most beautiful desert photography I've seen. The visuals are what make this film a small gem. It's also the sort of thing that makes me sad that almost no one, other than someone from China, or someone crazy enough to watch a VCD randomly picked up in Chinatown, will ever see it and similar films. No, it's not a “great” film, but it's worth a look for those who want things not on the regular film path. There are so many orphaned films out there, it kind of makes me sad.
9/2/10Addendum
I've discovered my copy of the film tucked away in a hidden nook. How it got there I'm not sure.
It seems it's really an orphaned film for it not to have been picked up even by the google search engine :(.
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